You live in my heart

The long awaited ✨2✨

It was Friday. The day they had both been nervous about. Hopper had a million things he wanted to say to Joyce. He knew he loved her more than he loves himself, but how could he just say that? He only had an hour to figure out his wording.

Everything about her was just absolutely perfect and he would never be able to express it. Her eyes. Her smile. Her laugh. Her hair. *chefs kiss*

He'd been staying in a hotel, close to where his psychologist was. He figured it was the appropriate thing to do. He needed time to heal. He didn't want to drag Joyce and El through the mud with him while he got his shit together.

After rehearsing his love speech in the car while on his way over to her house, he sprayed his mouth with breath freshener and got out of the car.

He walked up to her door, knocking approximately 4 times before stepping back. She opened the door, smiling at him with that gorgeous smile of hers. He watched her in awh as he helped her into his car. This could go one of two ways. Either he ruins the whole relationship, or, they move on living happily ever after.

Joyce on the other hand, had no idea what she would say to Jim when they got to Enzos. She figured time would just have to lead her on.

The more she thought about saying literally anything to him, the more nervous she felt. She sat in silence in the passenger seat of her car, that Jim was driving because his is somewhere lost in Hawkins.

They arrived at a restaurant which was not Enzos, but just as good. It was recommended by El who took Mike there and called it "the fancy people restaurant." While Joyce and Jim were nothing close to fancy people, they needed a restaurant that matched Enzos aesthetic. They didn't want it to feel too different.

They got seated, and Joyce immediately burried her face in the menu, refusing to meat Jim's eyes. He found it odd but he didn't want to push her too much, so he didn't say anything.

On the inside, Joyce was close to having a panic attack. She needed to say something to him. She had to. But she couldn't. The words did not form correctly in her mouth. Maybe it was too soon to say anything. But what if she doesn't say anything and they get torn apart again? She would regret it...

She felt sick. She felt like she could feel everyone staring at her. She closed her menu. "I'm sorry" she stated as she got up and left for the bathroom.

It was a family bathroom. So there were no stalls. She leaned against the bathroom wall, her face in her hands, tears streaming down her face. Here she was. In her 40s, screwing up yet another relationship because of her self esteem.

Hopper took the alone time to pull out his speech to continue preparing. He read over it in his head like 4 times, when he noticed that she'd been gone for almost 10 minutes now. He folded up the paper and stuffed back into his pocket.

Jim finally decided to go check on her. He slowly approached the bathroom door, knocking softly. "Joyce?" She was both relieved and scared to hear his voice. "Is everything okay?" He asked.

Joyce finally got the courage to stand up and unlock the door, then returning to her spot on the floor. He heard the click from outside the bathroom and took that as his sign to walk in. The door opened slowly. He stepped inside, seeing her so small and fragile on the floor.

"Hey. Is something wrong? Did something happen?" He asked nervously. She shook her head. He sat down quietly next to her, wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into his chest. "you are a great man, Hop" she whispered with a shaky voice. "Why are you telling me this? I mean, thank you. But why? Why so sudden?" There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "Because you deserve better than this" she stated. There was nothing he wanted more than to have a life with her. There's nothing better to him than that.

"What are you talking about, Joyce?" Hopper asked. "You planned this whole night. The whole thing. A fancy restaurant with fancy wine and fancy clothes. And I can't even sit in a chair without over thinking everything. I've already ruined this date." She confessed.

"What? No, Joyce. You absolutely have not ruined our date. Any time with you, is a great time. I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else" he replied softly.

"What do you say? We go back out there and drink wine until we pass out?" He joked. He was relieved to here her chuckle at that. He stood up and held out his hand. She hesitantly accepted it, and stood up with him. He held the door open for her as they walked out into the restaurant.

After seeing how the night was playing out so far, he would not be giving his speech to her tonight. "Maybe another day" he thought.

An older couple giving Joyce the look as they both walked out of the bathroom, caught her eye. "Oh. No. We didn't- nevermind." She gave up and walked back to the table with Jim. "Thank you, Hop" she said as they sat back down. "No need." He responded.

The rest of the date went pretty smoothly. They shared a bottle of wine, and laughed over old memories. She didn't want it to end. She felt safe and secure with him. Something she hadn't felt in a long time.

When it was time to leave, Joyce held onto Hoppers hand as the made their way back to the car. "I really enjoyed that" Joyce smiled. "I did too. I think this has been the best night I've had in a while" Jim said.
She felt a little bit more confident in herself after he said that. "He liked it." She thought to herself. A smile crept over her face.

They made their way back to Joyce's house. Before she got out, she gave his hand a quick squeeze. "Thank you, again, Hop" she told him. "It was great, Joyce."